GCU NUR514 NUR514 Organizational Leadership and Informatics Week 3 Assignment

NUR514 Organizational Leadership and Informatics

Week 3 Assignment  

As an advanced registered nurse, you will serve as a leader within your organization. Part of this role will entail being a change agent, and spurring positive change on behalf of patients, colleagues, and the industry.

Consider a situation you experienced previously where change did not go as planned in your health care organization. Create a 10-15-slide PowerPoint presentation in which you will assess the situation and the steps that should have been taken to successfully implement change.

Change is an essential part of the organization to improve patient satisfaction and outcomes. If there are resistance or obstacles for example, in this case, an argument between team members regarding spiritual care needs to be removed or resolved before processing a change. As a nurse leader and agent, I recommend using Kotter’s change model to resolve this problem. 4th step of Kotter’s model which is communicating the change vision is especially useful in this situation. In this step, the nurse leader gives importance to communicating the change vision with employees and team members. Provides opportunities for open communication regarding their concerns, fear, and disagreement. Clarifying their concerns and doubts is critical at this stage. Understanding the change vision and educating them about the benefits helps them to understand the reason for the change. Resistance and obstacles are part of a change project, and it is predictable. Hence understanding and resolving this resistance will enhance the process of change.

Describe the background of the situation, including the rationale for and goal(s) of the change.

Identify the key interprofessional stakeholders (both internal and external) that should be involved in change efforts.

Discuss an appropriate change theory or model that could be used to achieve results.

Outline how you would initiate the change.

Describe the impact to the organization if the change initiative is unsuccessful again, and potential steps the interprofessional team could take if the change is unsuccessful.

Make sure to include slide notes of 100-250 words for each slide.

You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are not required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite.

Sample Answer for GCU NUR514 NUR514 Organizational Leadership and Informatics Week 3 Assignment

Outline

Health care organizations experience different practice issues with profound impacts on patients and nursing practitioners. To ensure safe, effective care, advanced registered nurses should lead change to improve outcomes for patients, colleagues, and organizations. However, change implementation does not always succeed due to many factors, including timing and how the process was executed. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to assess a situation where change did not go as planned in my health care organization. Focus areas include the nurse’s role as a change agent, interprofessional stakeholders to be involved in change efforts, appropriate change theory, potential impacts of unsuccessful change, and additional factors driving the change.

Background of the Situation

The situation where change did not go as planned involved the implementation of an anti-bullying policy in the workplace. As Edmonson and Zelonka (2019) mentioned, workplace bullying is pervasive in the present workplace and adversely affects nurses’ quality of life. In response, a strong anti-bullying policy can help to improve the safety culture of the nursing environment to ensure high-quality care. However, the management did not actively involve nurses in the formulation process. The other shortcoming was a lack of pre-implementation training to ensure nurses understood the purpose of the program, roles, and expectations. As a result, the policy was not embraced as expected, implying ineffective implementation.

Rationale for the Change

Organizational change comprises multifaceted interventions seeking to improve performance, culture, and other critical aspects of internal processes. An anti-bullying policy is the foundation of a safe workplace, free from bullying. This implies that health care professionals can co-exist peacefully while protecting each other’s physical, emotional, and mental health. According to Smith et al. (2020), standing up against workplace bullying through policies can minimize the adverse effects of bullying on victims, including mental health problems, workplace conflicts, and poor attitudes toward work. Preventing the damaging effects of bullying also implies a commitment to creating a positive work environment, which all nursing leaders and professionals should strive to achieve and sustain.

Goals for the Change

Organizational change is a goal-driven exercise for ensuring improved results. One of the critical goals of the anti-bullying policy is to enhance job satisfaction, particularly for new graduate nurses who are typical victims of bullying. Addressing workplace bullying is also crucial to promoting patient safety since it implies empowering nursing professionals to work more productively by preventing issues hampering their performance (Goh et al., 2022). The other goal is respect for diversity since no one should be unfairly targeted by others, irrespective of culture, age, gender, and other factors. Other goals include achieving high nurse retention due to high job satisfaction and reducing costs associated with nurse turnover.

Implications of Practice Change

Practice change has multilayered implications depending on its scope, resource requirements, and the people involved. From an ethical perspective, preventing workplace bullying implies aligning patient care with the beneficence and non-maleficence principles since patients benefit more as harm is reduced. On a social dimension, a workplace free from bullying fosters healthy interactions since diverse individuals and groups can co-exist without fearing each other. Anti-bullying measures also help organizations avoid legal issues associated with patients’ and employees’ harm, particularly lawsuits. Preventing bullying further reduces health care costs linked to patient harm and nurse turnover. Importantly, the intervention is crucial for an enhanced organizational reputation.

Advanced Registered Nurse’s Role as a Change Agent

Advanced registered nurses should embrace their role as change agents for the continual improvement of health outcomes in their respective workplaces. As change agents, the advanced registered nurse is responsible for transformative leadership, which is centered on creating and sustaining valuable change. A critical part of the transformative role involves using personal experience and clinical knowledge to identify opportunities for change. For instance, practice issues hampering patient care are suitable opportunities. Change agents in nursing also help group members and organizations devise a strategy to execute desirable changes (Ericson-Lidman & Strandberg, 2021). Positive change should also be sustained to achieve long-term results. Other roles of the advanced registered nurse include promoting and facilitating innovation and advocacy as the patients’ voice.

Interprofessional Stakeholders Involved in Change Efforts

Change can be complex depending on its scope and the issue being addressed. Stakeholders involve people affected directly by organizational change who also influence outcomes significantly. Internally, key stakeholder groups include the management, departmental leaders, nurse leaders, and nursing professionals. Their direct participation, support, and guidance are crucial for seamless change implementation. Positive results are easily achieved when internal stakeholders collaborate to address a shared problem. External stakeholders include individuals and organizations who should understand how the organization works and routine efforts toward high-quality care and compliance. They include legal advisors, program analysts, government officials, and regulatory agencies. Their engagement and advisory role are essential when implementing complex change programs.

Change Theory to Achieve Results

Change theories provide frameworks and procedures for introducing and sustaining new behaviors and practices in organizations. Kurt Lewin’s change theory could be used to achieve the desired results. This theory demonstrates the process of transforming organizations through new behaviors in three basic steps: unfreezing, changing, and refreezing. In the context of change, unfreezing involves creating the perception that change is needed (Burnes, 2020). Such perception can be created by illustrating the adverse effects of workplace bullying on patients and nurses. Changing involves moving towards new practices or behaviors as situations oblige. Implementing a strong anti-bullying policy signifies changing, as Lewin’s theory recommends. Refreezing involves solidifying new behaviors, which can be achieved by progressive evaluation of the policy’s effectiveness and adjusting where necessary.

Justifying Lewin’s Change Theory

When choosing a change theory, it is important for change leaders to be guided by its intended goals as far as change execution is concerned. The main reason for choosing Kurt Lewin’s change theory is its focus on establishing new norms. Therefore, it is problem-driven to ensure health care organizations are not consistently troubled by the same problems. As a three-step theory, its implementation is simple and practical when introducing new practices or behaviors. Other reasons include its appropriateness for small and large organizations and its high emphasis on change sustainability in the third step. Sustaining change implies achieving long-term results and saving management costs.

Implications of Change Management Strategies

Every approach in health care for addressing current and emerging concerns has multiple implications. Ethically, change management through Lewin’s theory signifies a commitment to preventing harm since the theory guides change agents in achieving positive outcomes through new behaviors. Since health care facilities are social places, change management through Lewin’s theory helps to create a healthy environment where diverse teams can work together. It also recommends teamwork, which is essential for continual interactions between health care teams. Introducing, managing, and sustaining new norms reduce the probability of legal issues in health care. Systematic change management saves costs while playing a fundamental role in transforming the organization’s external image.

Initiating the Change as an Advanced Registered Nurse

When change fails, the advanced registered nurse can play a critical role in revisiting the issue and inhibiting factors. As an advanced registered nurse, I would initiate the change by first examining the severity of workplace bullying to determine the type of intervention needed. Guided by this evaluation, I would propose an anti-bullying policy that helps to protect victims and punishes perpetrators with clear recommendations. The next step would be engaging nurses in the formulation process and conducting an education program to ensure everyone understands the policy’s key components. The education program would provide an appropriate opportunity for addressing concerns and clarifying emerging.

Impact of Unsuccessful Change

Change implementation is tiring, besides consuming massive resources. Therefore, it would be unfortunate if the targeted outcomes were not achieved. If the anti-bullying policy is unsuccessful, a high potential for a poor nurse work environment would be inevitable. As Kim et al. (2019) mentioned, bullying experiences hamper nurses’ quality of life and productivity. The implication is that the victims’ performance dwindles, leading to unsafe and ineffective patient care. The resultant mental and emotional damage denotes low job satisfaction, a leading cause of nurse turnover in the current workplace (Kelly et al., 2021). These negative impacts underscore the need for the implementation team to cooperate and prevent potential implementation barriers.

Steps for the Interprofessional Team

If the change is unsuccessful, the implementation team could take various steps to address the situation. As Edmonson and Zelonka (2019) advised health care leaders, successful change commences with acknowledging a problem and raising awareness. Similar steps are vital, followed by a collaborative evaluation of the factors contributing to workplace bullying and barriers to successful change. After this background check, the interprofessional team should then enforce an anti-bullying policy to protect targeted victims. All individuals should be educated on the policy recommendations and purpose. Importantly, the team should design alternative interventions and prepare for their implementation if the anti-bullying policy fails again.

Additional Factors to Drive Upcoming Change and the Nurse’s Role

The success of organizational change depends on many factors. One of the influential factors to drive upcoming organizational change is the culture. Generally, culture represents shared beliefs, values, and practices (Aboramadan et al., 2020). A culture that supports innovation embraces change and will be a foundation of change-driven practices in the organization. Leadership support and the availability of resources will determine when and where change is needed. As a change agent, the advanced registered nurse is mandated to collaborate with the implementation team to drive change, depending on times and situations. Their other role is to provide the necessary guidance and leadership as the type and scope of change prompts.

References

´Aboramadan, M., Albashiti, B., Alharazin, H., & Zaidoune, S. (2020). Organizational culture, innovation and performance: a study from a non-western context. Journal of Management Development, 39(4), 437-451. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-06-2019-0253

´Burnes, B. (2020). The origins of Lewin’s three-step model of change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(1), 32-59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886319892685

´Edmonson, C., & Zelonka, C. (2019). Our own worst enemies: the nurse bullying epidemic. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 43(3), 274-279. DOI: 10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000353

´Ericson-Lidman, E., & Strandberg, G. (2021). Change agents’ experiences of implementing a new organizational culture in residential care for older people: a qualitative study. Nordic Journal of Nursing Research, 41(3), 149-157. https://doi.org/10.1177/2057158521995994

´Goh, H. S., Hosier, S., & Zhang, H. (2022). Prevalence, antecedents, and consequences of workplace bullying among nurses-a summary of reviews. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(14), 8256. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148256

´Kelly, L. A., Gee, P. M., & Butler, R. J. (2021). Impact of nurse burnout on organizational and position turnover. Nursing Outlook, 69(1), 96–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2020.06.008

´Kim, Y., Lee, E., & Lee, H. (2019). Association between workplace bullying and burnout, professional quality of life, and turnover intention among clinical nurses. PloS One, 14(12), e0226506. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226506

´Smith, C. R., Palazzo, S. J., Grubb, P. L., & Gillespie, G. L. (2020). Standing up against workplace bullying behavior: Recommendations from newly licensed nurses. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 10(7), 35. https://doi.org/10.5430/jnep.v10n7p35